SN Battle reports brings you another great battle report using the BRAND NEW Space Marine codex! Enjoy!

Mission: The RelicPoints: 1600Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Special Rule: Living moving Relic
The Relic is a living being that needs to be captured alive. The Relic may not be attacked, targeted or harmed by any means intentional or otherwise.
The Relic moves at the beginning of each player’s movement phase.
Movement is 1d6 inches in a random direction as indicated by a scatter dice. The Relic will not move if either in base to base contact with a model or captured.
If the Relic is dropped he will commence moving again.
Victory Conditions:
Having the unit closest to the Relic at the end of the game: 1VP or
Having possession of the Relic at the end of the game: 3VP
First Blood, Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord 1VP each

Shas’O Narel Mont’yr consulted his instruments again. It was clear to him that down somewhere in the overgrown ruined city there was the particular Gue’la they had been seeking. A particularly ugly beast, even by Gue’la standards but one who according to reports handed to him by the Etherals may have the particular talents that the Enclave need to move forward the Greater Good. The being had evaded their attentions for weeks and had even dispatched the Kroot scouts that had been sent to flush him out. An examination of the Kroot corpses that had been found showed that they had been killed after being struck by a combination of crude laser technology and what could only be described as not natural or technological discharges of energy. The signature did not match anything in the record banks but was closest to some of the attacks he read about in his Mirrorcodex. The attacks of the Marines that wear blue even when the others around wear other colours, are marked with horned symbols and openly use Kles’tak to kill. But it was different, not as controlled. Even more dangerous. But… the Enclave needed him alive. In previous missions, where the commander had been tasked with the live retrieval of an unwilling future ally, negotiation and patience had been his starting points. But he knew when to escalate; he was not known as “the bloodied” for nothing. Communication reports indicated that matters back at the Enclave were getting desperate. The tear in space through which creatures, all teeth and claws and blood, were forcing themselves through was expanding. Whereas they had been easily containable at first they were now at a point where Tau lives were being lost. The time for compromise and persuasion was over. Shas’O Narel Mont’yr ordered that his entire expeditionary force converge on the Gue’la’s last known position whilst he and his bodyguard remained behind directing their movements. The brute Gue’la would join the Greater Good and assist the Enclave one way or another. It was almost too late when Shas’O Narel Mont’yr noticed the other force entering the area. Space Marines! He almost missed them as unusually, and due to the dense overgrowth, they were not in their ugly square armoured personnel carriers or battle-tanks but mostly on foot. A quick scan of their communication channels proved that they were searching for an individual they referred to as “Kar Celebrium” and that their Commander was reminding his troops that he must be captured alive. Shas’O Narel Mont’yr strolled towards his battlesuit and summoned his bodyguard. He would be need on-site at some point, but there was no rush, not even Space Marines could match the awesome power of his force’s weaponry. This so-called “Kar Celebrium” would not fall into their hands. He was needed to ensure the Greater Good. If only the Gue’la were not so stubborn this fight would not have been necessary. They would regret their interference…

……and another brilliant board layout prepared by the SN Team! Looked great and a perfect location for a Tau advance through the old ruined Jungle city. We just couldn’t wait to start!

Meet Kar Celebrium our rogue trader psyker that will be acting as our moving relic for today’s battle report. Wonderful old school model! The rules for the moving relic are in the introduction

After both players roll their Warlord traits and with no night fighting, then came the roll-off to see who would go first. Adam wins the roll with a 5 and opts to deploy and go first. He starts by deploying his fire warriors on his left hand flank making good use of their firing 30″ range.

Now Kevin’s turn! We all know how hard hitting the Tau can be with ranged fire and so this was a very tricky deployment for Kevin as he hopes to steal the initiative. He deploys his units in as much cover as possible making good use of all Ruins. The Devastators camp in a ruin which was fortified by the techmarine.

Adam starts by rolling on his The Mirrorcodex table but sadly no preferred enemy goodness as he rolls a 1.

Tau Empire (Turn 1) Kevin moves some of his units into better firing positions mostly to get into their weapons’ range. Seeing the Marines deployed on the other side of the fences was really cool as they advanced into the ruined city.

Tau Empire (Turn 1) The Stealth Team train their marker lights on the Devastator squad removing them from their cover. Adam’s colour scheme looks amazing here as the stealth suits really blend into the ruins.

Tau Empire (Turn 1) XV8 Crisis Team target the marked Devastator squad and fire all they have got at them removing three marines with ease! Kevin wasn’t a happy man! ;P

Tau Empire (Turn 1) Different view from the XV8 Crisis Team as they easily see through the broken fences

Red Scorpions (Turn 1) Again the relic moves this time falling back into the Tau Deployment so much firing has really confused Kar Celebrium as to which direction to go to! Just imagine all that firepower! Poor guy!

Red Scorpions (Turn 1) The Ten man unit opts to go in for the kill and moves through the fence closer to the incoming tau.

Red Scorpions (Turn 1) For the emperor! The Red Scorpions seek revenge on their fallen brothers. The First of the many bolters fire at the stealth suits killing one as Adam fails his 2+ cover save from the ruins combined with stealth and shrouded.

Red Scorpions (Turn 1) The land speeder moves a bit closer to get into firing range and shoots at the Riptide hoping to remove some wounds early on, he fires his heavy bolter first and one manages to pierce the Riptides armour but Adam manages to save his FNP roll. Kevin then shoots his Krak missiles but again Adam makes two easy 2+ armour saves.

Great pic of the table as you can see most of the Red Scorpion Marines are about to cross over the fence whilst the Tau hold most of the centre of the board

Tau Empire (Turn 2) With hardly any movement in the Tau force the again very powerful Tau shooting phase starts Firstly Adam again charges up his shield to a 3+ but this time also Nova charges his Ion Accelerator and targets the bikes coming his way landing a direct hit with the large blast.

Tau Empire (Turn 2) Kevin doesn’t opt to jink as the path finders have marked this unit this time and removed their cover. 5 wounds are allocated on the squad and one roll at a time Kevin tries to save them all with his storm shield trying to soak up as many wounds as possible. After passing 4 rolls his last roll lets him down has he fails his 3+ and FNP and the first of the bikers is slain.

Red Scorpions (Turn 2) Reserves incoming!!!!!!!! The terminators make it into the board but wait……. They scatter onto the enemy (you should have seen the players’ respective faces!) Kevin picks up the dice and prays to the gods for a good mishap roll on the table. He rolls a 5 and back into ongoing reserve they go!